Gutierrez, Ichiro Win Gold Gloves

In one of the anomalies of baseball, the annual Gold Glove award isn’t necessarily a reflection of the best defensive player at his position.

Offense often plays a role in minds of major league managers and coaches who vote on the award, and that’s why Torii Hunter’s chances again seemed strong to win a place in the American League outfield for the 10th time.

With Hunter putting together a near-duplicate of his 2009 Gold Glove season — with only three errors and a .281 average, 23 home runs and 90 RBI — it would take perfection to unseat him.

Franklin Gutierrez was perfection in the field for the Seattle Mariners.

Gutierrez set a major league record by going all season — 415 defensive chances — without making an error, and he was rewarded for it Tuesday when the AL Gold Glove team was announced.

While voters often favor defensive-minded players who also put up strong offensive numbers, Gutierrez obviously won for his glove this year. He batted .245 with 12 home runs and 64 RBI, far below Hunter’s offensive numbers.

Suzuki, who made four errors and had a .989 fielding percentage, won his 10th Gold Glove and joined Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones and Al Kaline as the only players with at least 10. Clemente and Mays won 12 each, and Griffey, Jones and Kaline 10 apiece.

It’s the 11th time the Mariners have had more than one Gold Glove winner, the first since 2008. It’s also the fourth time Mariners have won two of the three outfield Gold Gloves, the others being Jay Buhner and Griffey in 1996, and Mike Cameron and Suzuki in 2001 and 2003.

Gutierrez this year passed Curt Flood’s 1966 record of 396 defensive chances without an error.

At least one Mariner has won a Gold Glove in 24 straight seasons, the longest streak in the major leagues.

The Yankees dominated the infield spots with first baseman Mark Teixeira, second baseman Robinson Cano and shortstop Derek Jeter winning Gold Gloves. Evan Longoria of the Rays won at third base, Joe Mauer of the Twins at catcher and Mark Buehrle of the White Sox at pitcher.